I am not sure where we got the idea from, but for a long time we knew we were going to have a wall where yesterday and today would be mixed. And so we have been gathering old and new pictures, from the people in our lives. It is an ongoing project (and there is not much wall left).
This collection of moments reminds me of
Faust's words to the instant, "Stay a while, you are so beautiful". I first read these words in spanish, and because it is my mother tongue, they speak to me the most ("Permanece, eres tan bello.") For the curious, here they are in german, as they were originally written "“Verweile doch, du bist so schön”. I actually bought the book in german, because back then smug me decided that all books should be read in their original language. I still believe that, but that would leave many masterpieces unread, and as for german 7 years later I still can't say more than 4 words (not that I actually did anything to learn it). I did take italian classes in the meantime, and now dutch is in the way. Oh well... Maybe we can have some tea and talk about books. Which are your favorite authors, foreign or not?
Cortazar, Borges, Garcia Marquez, DH Lawrence, Henry James, y adoro toda la literatura del sur de Estados Unidos (Hemingway, Tenessee Williams, etc)
ReplyDeleteI love pictures and memories of all kind on the walls. It's as if the house comes alive.
ReplyDeleteFavourite writers, hum... First I must say I'm all into the classics of XIX century, because I specially like to read stories that take me far away, to a foreign place, to a different culture, to a different era. That being said, it's kind of obvious... so, the Brontë sisters are on top, then there's Dickens, Jane Austen, Dumas, Carroll, Eça de Queiros, Louisa May Alcott... Then there are a few more contemporary ones that touch all the right buttons for me, like Hemingway, Uzma Aslam Khan, Louis de Bernieres... And when I want to read something soft that creats the perfect environment to put me in a good mood, I turn to Joanne Harris or Agatha Christie (always Poirot), or even some children's literature (cause I will always be a child) like Johanna Spyri, L. M. Montgomery or the Countess of Ségur.
I Love Lucy Maud Montgomery too and wish I'll be able to go one day to Avonlea!
ReplyDeleteChildren's literature (Harry Potter, LOTR, Narnia) are big time favourites too.
BTW, Amanda, conocias este blog? http://www.houseofturquoise.com/
ReplyDeleteTo Avonlea?? Can I please, please, go with you? :)
ReplyDeleteBeen wanting to read Narnia for a while, I have this feeling that the films don't do it proper justice, well, anyway... they never do. Actually I did thought they made a nice job in recreating tolkien's world, but well, they had New Zealand!
That turquoise blog has beautiful things, thank you! I have a feeling Amanda will love it :)
@ Marcela, oh that blog is prettiness ! And wow so much to read, still ;). Also a big fan of Hemingway. Of course Cortazar. Never really got into Garcia Marquez, but I have to give it another chance.
ReplyDelete@ Ines I also am a biig fan of Lewis Carrol, and all those english writers you mentioned (Austen, Dickens) and you should definitely read the chronicles of Narnia, so full of wisdom. So magic. I have to read that Anne of green gables, has been on my list for a while and still haven't gotten around to it.
Another book that I started reading, and haven't finished, but I think you might enjoy is The turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary wortley Montagu. An english lady who travelled to Turkey, wrote a journal of her travels, and tried the first attempts of a smallpox vaccine in her own children.
While we are on children's literature, let's please not forget the great Hans Christian Andersen. The Snow queen just might be my favorite story ever.
And Milan Kundera, is quite something too. Marcela you probably know him, but I think you will relate.
Oh yes! The unbearable lightness of the being just blew my mind, and I still have to read many others from him!
ReplyDeleteMarcela, read The ignorance for now. It is about being an expat and coming back to your country after a few years and having made a life somewhere else, and it will speak to you in so many ways. Read it, now, I tell you :)
ReplyDeleteI'll read it December, when I'll have to time to savour it!
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